Hook Mill, East Hampton, 1736 / 1806

Hook Mill, East Hampton, 1806

For more than a century, Americans have regarded windmills as a picturesque remnant of our agrarian beginnings — a pleasant, even romantic, aspect of the landscape in certain areas of the eastern seaboard. But in their earlier life, they were hard-working laborers in the community, applying man’s ingenuity to tasks essential to survival: they ground grain, sawed wood, and pumped water.

In East Hampton Village today, Hook Mill, Pantigo Mill and Gardiner Mill still stand. They represent some of the oldest and best examples of American craftsmanship in the wooden age. These mills can be seen as testimonials of a native technology and attract us all because they are survivors of a remarkably different era. – Village of East Hampton.

The owners of a post mill on the north end of the town commissioned Nathaniel Dominy V to build a new smock mill with two pairs of millstones. The mill was built in 1806 and incorporated the main post of the 1736 mill. The Hook Mill ceased operation in 1908. The Village of East Hampton bought the mill and lot in 1922 and restored the mill to working order in 1939. It operated seasonally into the 1950s. The Village made additional repairs in 1984-85 and 2011-2012. — Village of East Hampton.